Bancroft School headmaster to step down

Scott R. Reisinger, Bancroft School’s headmaster since 1999, announced Tuesday that he will step down at the end of the 2013-14 school year.

“It’s just time, I think,” he said. His daughter graduated from the school last year, and he and his wife, Anne, have not decided what their next step will be. “Things are good here, and I’m excited about this next stage of the journey,” he said.

Kevan T. Gibson, president of Bancroft’s board of trustees, said it was a decision Mr. Reisinger made on his own, not at any urging from the board. It’s unusual to have a headmaster for so many years, but Mr. Reisinger “was the right person at the right time,” he said.

Mr. Reisinger’s years at the school have brought a more diverse student body; aggressive integration of iPads and other technology into lessons; construction of the McDonough Center, which houses the Lower and Middle schools; renovations to the Fuller Science Center; installation of the city’s largest private solar power array; and exchanges with Chinese educational officials, teachers and students.

“But the things that I’m really most proud of are the kids who’ve graduated from here and the colleagues I’ve managed to hire here,” Mr. Reisinger said.

Before he leaves, he will oversee the start of the school’s new Hope Graham Program for students with “language-based learning differences” such as dyslexia. The program is scheduled to start in the fall.

He also hopes to continue raising money for the school’s strategic goals, which include increasing project-based learning and “advancing goodness” in a changing world.

Mr. Reisinger, who lives in Worcester, is also a deacon at St. Peter Church and St. Andrew the Apostle Mission in the city. “Worcester is a great place,” Mr. Reisinger said. “Should we move from Worcester, I would be very sad to do that.”

The school’s board of trustees will convene a search committee and hire a national search firm to help find and hire a new head of school within the next 12 months, according to a press release from the school.